The five Ss of retail operations: a model and tool for improvement

This article reviews the academic and practitioner literature on retail operations and identifies five core elements, as supposed, of retail operations. These suggested factors or elements are: systems, standards, stocks, space, staff, and shoppers' benefits. These elements are suggested by analysing different financial, customer, internal business, and the innovation and business perspectives. The article proposes a method, by which managers can examine ways of improving their operations by the use of a modified cause-effect technique, with illustrating some worked examples of the technique